On that, experts generally agree. “The large majority of infectious disease specialists think, and have thought for many months, that SARS-CoV-2 is here to stay,” said Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia in the UK.
“Our grandchildren’s grandchildren will still be catching (the virus),” he said. But “Covid, the disease, will become part of our history as the infection morphs into just another cause of the common cold.”
There is, however, a far more pertinent question, the answer to which is frustratingly elusive: How long will it take to get there?
The problem? Even after 20 months, those tools are not being put to best use. “This is the major issue: There was never a plan, (and) there still isn’t a plan at a global level,” said Andrea Taylor, assistant director of programs at the Duke Global Health Institute.
“We’re not good at dealing with global crises as a world — we don’t really have the infrastructure, or leadership, or accountability,” she added.
Some countries have fared better in the face of Covid than others. But to accelerate the endgame, countless experts — including Taylor — are calling for a new, global approach, particularly when it comes to vaccines, treatments and information sharing.
Such an effort is the best way to end the pandemic quickly, they say — and unless it happens, people in every corner of the world could still be living under a Covid cloud through 2022 and beyond.
“We knew ahead of time what would happen if we took this nationalistic approach, but we did it anyway,” Taylor said. “And we are now living with the consequences of that.”
The world’s key tool
If the world…
Source : cnn
